What is unusual about Tolstoy's fables? Layering as a hallmark of fables by L.N. Tolstoy

Everyone who read Aesop's fables, IA Krylov, and then immediately picked up a volume of Leo Tolstoy, probably asked himself, and what is unusual about Tolstoy's fables? Our article will try to answer this question.

Directivity of fables for a certain age audience

First of all, it is necessary to answer the question, why Leo Nikolayevich translated and composed fables.

It is unlikely that readers will believe that IA Krylov, Aesop, or Lafontaine had some special task. They wrote fables, because they did it, and their works were liked by others. But Tolstoy is not like that, he composed his fables with intent, or rather, he had a specific task: to sow "kind and bright" in the souls of children. One answer to the question, what is unusual about Tolstoy's fables, is that they are peculiar because they pursued a certain goal - to teach the child to do the right thing. And the fables are special, because they are oriented towards a certain age group - children.

"Teacher" moment in the fables of the Russian classic

To fully understand the problem of Tolstoy, one must compare his fables and fables of the ancient Greek - Aesop. The Greek all the fables are equipped with a morality "not for growth," that is, in the works of Aesop, in a capacious form, people's wisdom is fixed. For example, the fable "Eagle, jackdaw and shepherd" says that you can not compete with those who surpass you with natural data. The famous fable "Fox and Grapes" ridicules people's inclination for self-justification. And there are a lot of such examples.

What is unusual about Tolstoy's fables? The fact that they have a moral "to grow". For example, the fable "The Dog and its Shadow" teaches children (or adults) that it is necessary to compete only with oneself and not look at others, even if a neighbor has a "piece of meat fatter" than you. The fable "The liar" tells of a boy who, without any reason, shouted: "Wolves! Wolves! ", And when the predators came and bit the whole herd, the cowherd boy did not help, because he deceived more than once. The fable "Two Companions" teaches children mutual help and the fact that one should not throw a person in a difficult moment.

In other words, Tolstoy's fables are endowed with easily identifiable moral content, moreover, they are extremely close to our children, because when Leo Nikolayevich translated Aesop's fables or composed his own, he tried to make them understandable for the Russian people.

The moral content of the fables

Moral children can be taught in different ways. It is possible to single out every day, for example 2 hours, and to teach the mind, but there is a chance that the child will run away from home soon after such systematic notations and hate his parents. And you can read fables to a child and, together with him, analyze their moral meaning, thereby verifying how well the son (or daughter) has learned the simplest rules of behavior in society. Fables are "injections of morality with a pleasant aftertaste", and they, among other things, accustom the child to reading.

The works of Leo Tolstoy are studied by children in general schools. Therefore, the question of what the unusualness of Tolstoy's fables is, class 4 (his students) is already able to answer independently.

The philosophical content of the fables of Leo Tolstoy

But there was another layer of Tolstoy's fables that the child can not recognize and see, namely: the philosophical content of LN Tolstoy's fables. Of course, rare are those fables in which philosophical content is not invented, but really embedded in them. For example, already quoted here the fable "The Dog and Its Shadow" contains not only everyday, psychological, but also profoundly philosophical meaning: a person should only work on himself. His mind should not be confused by either anger or envy. He must leave behind all the seven deadly sins, and most of the anxieties must remain there.

What is unusual about Tolstoy's fables, if there is allegory in them as an essential part? Is it only a national or everyday property? Of course, no. The allegorical nature of Tolstoy's fables brings not only to folk and worldly wisdom, but also to the truths of world religions.